Today, as part of Thailand’s Board of
Investment media tour, I visited three facilities affected by last
year’s floods: Western Digital, Benchmark Electronics,
and Fabrinet.

Here’s how they were affected, how
they reacted, and where they are today:

Western Digital:

Of the three companies listed here, Western
Digital was the one most impacted by last year’s flood.
This factory – home to 27,000 workers – saw
flood levels rise to over 10 feet on the company’s
grounds.

How high the waters reached in on spot of
the grounds.

The world-renowned HDD manufacturer suffered
greatly as a result of being underwater for 47 consecutive days,
but the greatest surprise to come from this horrible disaster is
the efforts of the company’s employees. A majority were
on hand to help with the clean-up efforts, and thanks to this
unprecedented level of commitment, they were able to see one of the
fastest turnarounds among all the companies affected by this
disaster in Thailand. Furthermore, the company was able to repair
nearly 80% of damaged equipment, saving on costs for repair, as
opposed to spending on replacements. Today, the company is
surpassing quarterly and annual fiscal goals. They’ve
also since put into place numerous flood prevention measures,
including flood retaining walls and improved dyke systems, to
protect the grounds.

Personal takeaway: How well Western Digital
treats its employees.

The company has an extremely low turnover rate,
and it’s largely the result of their efforts in
recruiting and cultivating talent from their college years on. Such
personal involvement in the well-being of their workers is what led
to the company’s employees returning favor, if you will,
when the floods hit Western Digital. This, in turn, is what led to
the company’s remarkable recovery, which saw it turn out
its first HDD nearly a month and a half after the floods first hit
the grounds.

Benchmark Electronics:

Benchmark Electronics saw flood waters rise
between 6 and 9 feet on their grounds last year.

There is s still a water stain that marks
where the water levels reached.

As part of their recovery efforts,
they’ve heightened land surrounding the facility,
deepened their protective dykes, and improved overall flood wall
protection. They’ve also improved manufacturing at their
Korat facility so that in the case of an emergency where the
Bangkok facility must close they can immediately pick up the job at
another facility, so the client doesn’t miss a beat. This
was an enormous task because Benchmark doesn’t focus on
one niche industry, but rather a variety of technologies, including
medical, communication, and industrial equipment. They’re
high mix specialists who focus on more technical equipment as
opposed to cell phones, MP3 players, and the like; at any given
time 200 to 300 different types of equipment being produced on
their grounds. To that regard, they need to guarantee a higher
level of reliability to their customers as they depend on the
technology in order to do their jobs.

Personal takeaway: The high level of dedication
that the company has to their clients.

It was noted in the meeting that the one thing
that most affected the company was their inability to deliver
equipment to their clients. This is something that they repeatedly
brought up in our meeting as being something that they never want
to have happen again. They’ve invested a tremendous
amount of money and have taken enormous measures to ensure that
this is just the case.

Fabrinet

Similar to Benchmark, Fabrinet creates a wide
variety of electronic equipment for highly technical professionals.
They too are not much involved in the consumer sector; rather, they
provide technical manufacturing solutions for optical and
electro-mechanical technologies, among other industries. In regards
to the floods, the company did not see multiple feet of water on
their grounds like the other two, but one building was affected
which, in turn, affected the company’s production. They
had to close the facility for two weeks and rather than halt
manufacturing for this amount of time, Fabrinet floated equipment
on barges 20 miles down to a sister manufacturing facility and
provided an assembly crew so that they could continue building
equipment on behalf of the clients.

What’s more, they also made it a point
to take good care of their employees during this difficult time,
including the transitioning of some of the company’s
grounds into a pseudo-campground for some 1300 employees affected
by the floods. They had a place to stay, clean restrooms, food, and
flood aid assistance all set up.

In terms of making sure that nothing like this
happens again, the company set up flood walls that stand 10 feet
high and extend 10 feet below the surface.

Fabrinet representatives took us on a tour of
their grounds, and it was an awe-inspiring experience. They just
finished their newest manufacturing building and have already broke
ground on another one. Demand is that high for a reliable country
like Fabrinet, which can provide end-to-end solutions for all types
of technologies, and the company is focused on continuing on into
this very promising future. ■